◀  No. 133421 Dec 1997 Clue list No. 1338  ▶

AZED CROSSWORD 1336

STOCKING

1.  R. J. Whale: You’ll recollect letters to St Nick go here (anag. & lit.).

2.  J. C. Leyland: Carrying presents Gaspar & Co. queue first round crib, arriving from east (cot (rev.) in Kings, with s at front).

3.  R. Jacks: Here we may see initial evidence of Santa Claus, one bringing Christmas gifts to put in (to in S C King, & lit.).

VHC (extra prizes)

M. Barley: It starts off kid’s Christmas, noisily getting one such undone (anag. incl. it and first letters, & lit.).

E. A. Beaulah: Family at home and opening of gifts provide a seasonal delight for children (stock in g).

C. J. Brougham: Saint’s gift bearer? Only child wears it (oc in St King, & lit.; wear = believe).

G. C. Brown: Bearer of gifts making use of wondrous sign to see little king (anag. of sign to C K).

B. Burton: Snick got runs – cover needed on leg? (anag.).

N. C. Dexter: To GIs one of a couple available freely – with a pair of knickers? (anag. incl. c, kn; ref. WW2).

Dr I. S. Fletcher: Conk’s disguised with it – good for doing job in shop? (anag. + g; ref. stocking mask).

C. R. Gumbrell: Providing this is loaded go, St Nick! (anag. & lit.).

R. Hesketh: Fetching calves, perhaps, and very engaging glimpse of thighs? (t in socking (adv.)).

G. Johnstone: One tempting a glance to fine leg got snick to slip (anag.).

F. P. N. Lake: Snick got runs! What’s keeper doing? (anag.).

C. J. Morse: It’s the end of clocks sounding like clocks: mine are ornamental (s tocking; see clock2).

G. Perry: Wise man behind manger’s bending over gifts’ recipient at Nativity (cot’s (rev.) + King).

P. L. Stone: Bit of hose leaving thigh on show in act of stimulation ((h)ock in sting, & lit.).

J. R. Tozer: ‘Boxing’ covers the original piece of tradition out of which Christmas presents come (t in socking).

A. J. Wardrop: Contents for this? Nick’s got supply (anag. & lit.; supply adv.).

Mrs M. P. Webber: It will need ‘fuelling’ around the start of Christmas (C in stoking, & lit.).

I. J. Wilcock: What makes St Nick go round the houses, carrying presents (anag. & lit; presents vb).

HC

M. J. Balfour, J. R. Beresford, Rev Canon C. M. Broun, Dr J. Burscough, D. A. Campbell, P. Cargill, I. Carr, J. & B. Chennells, C. A. Clarke, G. P. Conway, P. Crozier, V. Dixon, C. M. Draper, W. Duffin, C. M. Edmunds, J. English, A. S. Everest, H. Freeman, P. D. Gaffey, B. Grabowski, G. I. L. Grafton, R. R. Greenfield, I. F. & L. M. Haines, R. J. Hooper, J. Langton, M. D. Laws, C. J. Lowe, R. M. Luty, Mrs J. Mackie, D. F. Manley, Rev M. R. Metcalf, D. P. Miller, C. G. Millin, F. R. Palmer, R. J. Palmer, G. S. Parsons, C. Pearson, N. G. Shippobotham, Ms B. J. Widger, Dr E. Young.
 

Comments
265 entries, rather disappointing for a Christmas special, I thought. Some mistakes, the commonest being TOOL for TOON in the PD clue (‘...plastic into one’) and ROES for DOES. I was asked by more than one of you to say bow the puzzle was conceived and to describe the order in which it was put together. I decided at the outset that I wanted to give you a ‘pot pourri’ type of puzzle, with a variety of different clue types. Then I thought of STOCKING, which seemed to lend itself to Playfair, but I also set out from the start to include more than one extra hint of the codeword as I didn’t want the Playfair element to dominate, especially as I could see, as the diagram took shape, that you weren’t going to have many letter pairs to work with. (Playfair enthusiasts will have to wait a little longer for the next Playfair competition.) Hence the Cole Porter quote (surely familiar to most?) and the two unclued Scottish stockings. There were murmured complaints that the Playfair bit was too easy, but I make no apologies for that. What I was after was a puzzle whose component parts fell into place gradually but pleasurably. The 11 x 13 grid proved desirable because of the number of letters in the quotation. I could perhaps have made things a little easier for you by telling you which of the acrosses were Wrong Number and which PD but with only seven of each it seemed a reasonable challenge. PD clues usually announce themselves quite clearly, I tend to think. Anyway it was still obviously a toughish puzzle, and if it was almost more than many could cope with around Christmas (‘like fifteen rounds with Joe Louis’ was one comment), I’m sorry.
 
The judging was very tricky. I know I gave you BLUESTOCKING (also a Playfair word) some years ago, but that’s an irrelevance, I feel. STOCKING has a much wider range of meanings and is a more tractable word generally. It always amazes me how well you manage to give a Christmassy flavour to clues for any word I give you at this time, though I never explicitly ask for or necessarily expect this. (I might add that, with all the seasonal crosswords around, it becomes increasingly difficult for setters to come up with original ideas for Christmas specials!) Kings and crib (reversal of COT) understandably turned up quite regularly. I didn’t care for ‘hang-up’ to mean something hung up, which was also used surprisingly often. The general quality of clues submitted, however, was well above the average.
 
Having asserted last month that I never give you dialect words to clue, I was promptly reminded of SPREATHE, which was the clue-word back in June 1979 (No. 375). I really shouldn’t say these things with so many smart Alecs around, should I? Anyway, a very happy new year to you all!
 

 

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Solution